 I want to encourage you with this one statement, and this is not necessarily a very positive statement, not very maybe Christmas-like statement, but you'll get the meaning of it in a second. Don't die like a fool. Yeah. Hope was born. The Bible calls three kinds of people fools. The first one, the Bible says, fool said in his heart, there is no God. That's what the Bible says. So when somebody walks around and says, there is no God, the Bible's description for that person is a fool. A fool doesn't mean that he's not educated, doesn't mean that he's not smart, meaning somebody who ignores the basic reality of their existence. And the only reason why a lot of us say that there is no God is because we are God in our own life. Many times men have tried to become God, but only one time God became man. God has a name. His name is Jesus. He came to thousand years ago. He became a man. He didn't forsake his divinity to embrace humanity. He was both fully God and fully man. And when he was on this earth, he proved to us that there is a God. The reason why an atheist cannot find a God is for the same reason that a criminal cannot find a police station. There is a God. His name is Jesus. I'll give you three proofs that there is a God. Not from a scientific perspective, but from a pastoral perspective. Number one is the creation. Creation declares there is a God. If my beautiful wife can please model something for me right now. A creation carries a DNA of God. Today we have people in prisons who nobody can testify that they were on the scene of a crime, but because their DNA was found on the scene of the crime, we incriminate them and put them in jail. And so this beautiful person right here has painted, in fact, Martin, can I ask you to hold this for a second? The reason why it's because it's going to defeat my purpose. This is heavy and, babe, you can take a seat. Thank you. This is art. All right. This has been painted by my wife with her fingers without a brush. Now, that's what I said, too. When I first, I was like, no, that's not part. My response wasn't wow. My response was no way because I wouldn't even be able to print it with the printer. Not a paintbrush. A printer wouldn't be able to find a painting and print it like that. So my wife went to art school for about four years and she won awards in different nations when she was in Moscow. And she was not a good student there. She was a little backslider. So, but because she was a good artist, they gave her really good grades and actually graduated her with honors because she was winning all the awards for her school and also for her art school. She went to CBC here and she won also award within like few months of being there. Now, imagine this for a moment if I would tell you that this came as a result of an explosion that happened at the art school in Moscow. It took billions of years and in afterwards, just magically, things just like that appeared. In fact, even this frame came a little bit later with it. Now, you would look at me. It doesn't matter how educated you would meet. You'd be like, Vlad, you're a little bit high. This is not possible because the art proves there's an artist. A book proves there's an author. Music proves there's a musician. And creation proves there's a creator. Come on somebody. The Bible says heavens declare the glory of God. You are the fingerprint of God. If you want to know there is a God, look at yourself in the mirror because there is you. There is a God because you carry the DNA, the fingerprints of God. Come on somebody. Thank you, Pastor Martin. The second proof that there is a God is Christ because the Bible says that He is God with us. Jesus is the Emmanuel. When He came on this earth, He was the God in a cradle. He was God on the cross. He was prophesized so many hundreds of years before that. He walked on water. He was born out of a Virgin Mary. He said that I and the Father am one. He was God in flesh. He split the history before Christ and after Christ. And He's the only man who walked on this earth and said I am God. Died for it and rose again three days later. Come on anybody who walks around and says I'm God and can pull off resurrection. Sign me up. Come on somebody. The third reason that I believe there is a God is your conscience. The scripture says is that God put His law in the heart of every single person. And that's why when you do wrong you know that it's wrong even if you didn't grow up being taught that is wrong. Why? Because you have an inward compass placed there by God to signify to you. It's like an inner soulish Bible. No matter how much you silence it. No matter how you drink it. No matter how high you get. No matter how far from religion you get. No matter how you deconstruct Christianity. That voice my friend is going to keep pointing to the true north as saying you stupid. You shouldn't be doing that. You shouldn't be hanging out with her. Don't respond to her. Do not go there. Why? Because that is God letting you know I exist. Fool said in his heart there is no God. A guy in French Voltaire, French atheist said it took 12 fishermen to build Christianity. I will show the world how a Frenchman can destroy it. After Voltaire died a home in which he lived became Europe's most famous Bible distribution center. Bottom line is Voltaire is dead but God lives. Communist said it will show the last Bible in the museum and then we will show the last Christian on TV. You know what they show on TV? Now a documentary how communism failed in Russia and guess who's in the museum? Lenin. I'm going to tell you one thing my friend. God is real. He exists. His name is Jesus. The second fool and this Jesus called this a fool. This person a fool and the Bible says in Luke chapter 12 verse 20 and 21 it says but God said to him fool this night your soul will be required of you then who's those things which you have provided. Who's will those things be that you have provided? So is he who lays up treasure for himself and is not reached toward God. This is the man who planned for time but not for eternity. He taught of himself but not of God. He paid attention to his body but not to his soul. When you pamper, promote and protect a part of you that will only live to 70, 80 years and neglect the part of you that will live on forever in hell or in heaven. God says you are a fool. This man told himself he had many years but God said tonight, tonight I'm going to require you of your soul. Don't you realize that an accident blocked artery, a stray bullet, a plane with engine failure, a drunk driver or somebody texting on the highway can take you out instantly. None of us, none of us are fools when we die but we are fools when we live like we are not going to die. I'm going to say it again. I know this is Christmas and you're not thinking about this but I'm going to tell you one thing that because of what's happening in our culture and our generation somebody can come down with cold and come to your house and my friend you're not, you and I are not protected from that. Some idiot can be driving on the highway, you're going back home today and swerves into your lane and no I'm not here to be debited downer and rain in your parade but I want to tell you something that if you're not thinking about life that you will live forever. The Bible says you're not wise, you're a fool. Jesus did not come to give us a holiday. He came to give us a holy life. Jesus came to give us eternal life. Jesus did not come so we can hang up trees and lights and simply sing kumbaya and just gather together for a good holiday. Jesus came to save his people from their sins. The life you will live after you die my friend is longer is bigger and it's eternal than the life you here live right now and if you're only thinking about pampering protecting and taking care of the life that you have right now and trying to stay safe so you can extend extra fives to six seven years of your weak broken life that is on this earth that is cursed ruined by corrupt politician ruined by religions ruined by the hate and all of the stuff that is happening my friend. The Bible says fool. Fool. He says you're not thinking about tomorrow. You're not thinking about far enough about tomorrow so I want to challenge you today. If you were to die what would happen? What would you say to God when you would stand before him? A fool says in his heart there is no God. A fool is the one. It's not that he dies you know oh look the culture will call you a fool if you went to a gathering like this and you got COVID and you died. The culture says you were a fool. You ignored the CDC. That's what the culture says. Christ will say you're still gonna die buddy but the question is did you live your life being prepared for it? Because whether you die at 40, whether you die at 30, whether you die at Christmas, whether you die at Easter, whether you die sometime in between, whether you die on your way to church, whether you die on your way from work, whether you die at the age of 90, whether you die out of COVID or you die out of a car accident or a blocked artery, whether you die because somebody pulled a gun on you at the gas station. Jesus says the real question is were you prepared to meet your maker? And if you were my friend you'd die as a hero and that's why on your death we're gonna celebrate and we're gonna say you went to a better place and we're not gonna be lying about it. Come on somebody. Hallelujah. Number three. The third kind of a fool is the absolute fool. Absolute fool and I'm gonna read the verse in 2 Samuel chapter 3 verse 33 and 34 and the king sung a lament over Abner and said should Abner die as a fool dies? Your hands were not bound nor your feet put in fetters, fetters. As a man falls before the wicked man so you fell and all the people wept all over him. So an atheist fool pretty much ignores existence of God and ambitious fool just has no time for God. Who is this absolute fool? A little background of the story. Abner was the guy who helped to run the government. This puppet king was the son of Saul when Saul died. He was running this little thing and there was a guy his name was Assel. Assel. Assel. Those Jewish names. Assel and Assel was pursuing Abner and Assel pretty much you know was very straightforward focused on Abner and Abner turns around to him and says dude get off of me go chase somebody else and because I don't want to kill you. Tells him three times and then throws a spear and kills Assel. The problem is Assel was the brother of Job and Job was the top military general of King David's little circle. So next thing that happens is that Abner kind of forgets about his thing that he killed Job's brother. He goes to David makes a contact you know makes a connection begins to bring the whole Israel under David's reign and forgets about this whole thing that he just killed the top military's men's brother. Now in the Israel they had this law the law was that is the Avenger of Blood. Avenger of Blood was this guy pretty much was the nearest in the family who was responsible to take vengeance for the murder of the family member. For example it would work like this. If somebody killed me the law was that my brother had to track the killer and kill him and this was not only lawful this was expected so it wasn't just the police and the government had to be involved the family members had to get involved in avenging the blood of the nearest relative. Now let's say that a person was killed by innocence you know it was just an accident it was not intentional it was not premeditated there was no ill emotions involved then the people like that will still be hunted by the nearest relative who was the Avenger of Blood then these people who were innocent but they killed somebody they had six cities to escape to. Three cities were on one side of Jordan and three cities were on the other side of Jordan and these cities were called cities of refuge in this cities along with 40 other cities Levites and priests lived so you would run to the city and say hey an accident I had an accident I killed somebody and the nearest relative of this family is tracking me down they're hunting me could I run into the city until you know you guys sort this out so you would run to the city and the priest pretty much will protect you it's because now in the city you are safe even though the Avenger of Blood has a law he has to avenge his brothers or his sisters death but because you ran to the city of refuge the priests and the Levites would stand at the gate and say you can't go in why he is protected in this city let's come back to Abner Abner kills us the hell and Job is required by God's commandment to avenge his brother's death even though this death was not premeditated it happened during a wartime but still the law makes Job to be an Avenger of Blood and this is interesting Abner thinks everything is fine I'm cool as long as I'm making connections with David the fact that I murdered somebody the fact that I took somebody's life does not matter you know as long as I do good now the bad is forsaken and forgotten and then Abner gets what he deserved he gets killed for what he did why was his death foolish because he died at the gate of Hebron which was the city of refuge all he had to do is get into the city of refuge and Job would not be able to take him out and that's why David is weeping and he says Abner you knew better you knew Job will come after you you knew if you take somebody's life the Avenger of Blood will be after you Abner you knew the city of refuge you knew that God provided the city for your safety and for your salvation all you had to do is instead of trying to do more good than bad you had to just run to the city of refuge and you would have been saved I want to tell somebody in this house and those people watching us on livestream and those who will be rewatching Jesus Christ is our city of refuge 2000 years ago God has established a city of refuge and his name is Jesus Christ the Bible says that any sinner no matter what you've done even if you committed abortion even if you murdered even if you abused even if you were a victim or a perpetrator there is enough blood to wash your sin there is enough grace to restore you to God even if you fornicated or committed adultery there is power in the blood of Jesus Christ to wash you to forgive you and my friend to save you from your sin I feel like preaching I know it's Christmas night but I gotta tell you about this man Jesus who came to save his people from sin Jesus is like a city of refuge because these cities six of them in total three on one side of Jordan three on the other side of Jordan and as Jesus is like the cities of refuge because they were provided by God they had power to save they had power to keep you safe they were available to everyone and they were accessible to everyone but Jesus is better than the cities of refuge because see you have to get to the cities of refuge and if the guy the avenger of blood was faster than you he would have struck you on the way to the city of refuge but Jesus Christ says you don't have to get to me I can get to you all you gotta do is call upon me those who call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved they can be in the car they can be in the bottom of the bottom of their life they can be in the drughouse they might not be able to get the church they can hang on the cross as say Jesus remember me and he says today today you will be with me in the paradise I am better than the city of refuge I can come to your salvation I can come to your situation I can come to your drughouse I can come to your pit I can come to your problem I can come to your dilemma I can be there if you fall and the devil is tracking you down call upon my name and I will save you not only Jesus is better because he's available all the time but cities of refuge only worked if you were innocent if you were guilty city of refuge was spew out if you were guilty the priests will say I'm sorry you premeditated that murder you wanted to kill that man we can't protect you cities of refuge only worked for innocent people Jesus Christ blood he said I didn't come for the righteous he said my city works for the guilty I'm the lawyer for the guilty my blood is for the sinner my blood is for those who are stained with their guilt for those who are unworthy to lift their head and beat their chest and say God have mercy on me sinner and Jesus says that's who I came for that that is who that is who can access me that is who can call upon my name that is who I will say come on somebody maybe you're here today and you feel guilty maybe you're here today and you've done something bad and maybe the lie of the enemy that you believe as long as I do more good than bad like abner you go you go making these connections with religion maybe you're walking around you're like man I'm good now I'm good now listen you're still condemned man the bible says Jesus did not come to condemn us do you know why he says that because we're already condemned he didn't come to condemn us we're already condemned my friend he came to save us and today he's ready don't go about your life like it's usual if you are a condemned man inside don't try to numb it with alcohol don't try to numb it with good works don't try to numb it with religion run to the city of refuge lay hold of christ lay hold of salvation lay hold of his mercy lay hold of his grace and you will see he will save you abner you died like a fool man you are so close you died at the gate of hebron all you had to do is step into hebron all you had to do is run to refuge that god provided for you abner died fool's death are you gonna die like a fool are you gonna live like a righteous man in the conclusion in Luke chapter 2 there's a guy named Simeon and Luke chapter 2 verse 26 it had been revealed to him by the holy spirit that he would not see death remember abner he died he would not see death until he had seen the Lord's Christ so he came by the spirit into the temple and when the parents brought the child Jesus to do for him according to the custom of the law he took him up into his arms and blessed god and said lord now you are letting your servant depart in peace according to your word for my eyes have seen your salvation which you have prepared before the face of all the peoples i like to bring revelation to the Gentiles and the glory of your people is real in other words Simeon is saying i'm not dying until i see Christ i'm not dying until i hold salvation it's been given a word to Simeon you will not die until you see salvation and the regular Sabbath he goes to the church the Bible says by the spirit i truly believe in the depth of my heart it's not an accident you came to this place tonight you might have come because your family invited you but there has been a divine anonymous working of God to bring you to hear this message you probably did not expect to hear somebody screaming yelling and especially talking about fools on Christmas but the holy spirit is bringing you slowly and slowly and luring you in into his kingdom and i want to tell you something we're not preaching about baby Jesus here we're preaching about the Son of God who came who lived who died who rose again who is seated at the right hand of God and the Bible says he is coming back i'm not presenting you baby Jesus i'm presenting you the Lord of lords and the king of kings may i be like joseph to see me and today to you and i'm going to ask you to take him in embrace christ right now embrace salvation right now don't die until you embrace christ and because you and i do not know when we're gonna die it's better to embrace christ right now not tomorrow morning because there might not be seeds for anybody here today not to the next week because we don't know what tomorrow holds but today is the day when you entered into this house of God when you heard the message about Jesus when you've seen it illustrated and i'm presenting you this Jesus again not a baby Jesus but a Lord Jesus they like see me and you take him in and say Lord i have seen your salvation Lord now i am going to live and die in peace because i have seen your salvation i have received your gift of salvation my sins have been forgiven i have embraced christ don't die like a fool like a forgiven man because you choose to live embracing Jesus christ an atheist fool says there is no god it's a gamble it's a gamble ambitious fool says i don't have time for god an absolute fool says i know better than to live my life not seeking redemption from jesus but i'm just gonna take my chances my friend god has done already everything on his end he has made salvation so easy you don't have to run to jerusalem to get it you don't have to fly to some city to get it all you gotta do is believe in the heart confess with the mouth and you are in the city of refuge and the city of refuge jesus is in you rise to your feet i have only one goal and one agenda tonight i have a confession to make my goal is to ruin your christmas if you don't accept jesus christ if this is the last time you will sneak into church i want to brand i want to poke you so deep that it will haunt you for the rest of your life so that one day when we stand before god you can't point your finger at me and said you could have tried harder that's why i screamed that's why i yelled that's why i did not want it to win your competition of a good preacher i want your soul to be saved it's for this reason he came it's for this reason this church exists and it's for this reason we have this service every head by hour and every eye closed this is the most important decision you will make in your life the decision of will you embrace christ will you reject your condition of trying to get better living this life of god forgive me i'm sorry to lord i surrender my whole life to you are you a fool are you gambling with eternity are you gambling with tomorrow you know christ has died on a cross but you haven't went into that you're still living your life on your own he came to save his people from their sins titanic was the largest ship in the world at the time there was three kinds of people there the rich the poor and the middle class but when titanic sunk and the life boats arrived on the shore there was only two kinds of people the lost and the saved while you're on the surf there's the educated uneducated there's the rich there's the poor there's the hispanics there's the russians there's the there's the white there's the republicans there's democrats there's the left there's the right but my friend when we stand before him there's only going to be two categories you either saved or you're not if you're in this room today and you say vlad i don't want to die like absalom i want to die like simian i came here already my heart my heart beats faster there's a call and i sense that i need to i need to go give my life to christ today he gave his life for me i gotta give my life to him i'm tired of changing myself i made promises that i keep breaking and i keep improving trying to improve but i can't yoga and meditation and all of this stuff but i can't change me i have a condition and only christ can save me i'm ready to be saved i'm ready to come back maybe you walked away from christ tragedy and explainable things that happen to you and you turn your back on christ and and today you're ready you're ready to come back not only jesus was born and you celebrate but today he wants to be born in you he wants to be reborn in you when i count to three if you're in one of these two categories and you're saying i need to embrace christ like simian i don't want to live and die a fool i want to live and eventually when it's my time to go be a wise man because i'm forgiven and because i'm saved when i count to three i'm gonna ask you to raise your hand every head bowed and every eye closed if you're watching me on live shaman you do not stand right with the lord when i ask them to raise their hands when i count to three i'm gonna ask you to type in the comments below i would like to get saved my friend tomorrow is not promised to anyone tonight today is the day of salvation now is the time one two three just raise that hand high if you're saying hey i would like to give my life to the lord thank you i see your hand thank you i see your hand anybody else could say i would like thank you i see your hand i would like to give my life to the lord today i would like to make a decision today conscious decision to give my life to jesus those of you watching me on live stream right now you can comment below i want to give my life to christ i want to give my life to christ for those people who raised your hand or you wanted to raise your hand i'm gonna give you a chance right now this would be a bold step but if you can't do it here in front of believers who support you you'll never do it there in front of the world who will mock you i'm gonna ask you to come out of your seat and stand here with me right now just come out and stand with me as your public declaration thank you thank you just just come out don't don't don't worry about what people will think about you just come if you brought a friend or a family member who does not know the lord just ask them right now say hey is pastor talking to you if they say yeah when i need to do they just come with them just come with them today is the day this this holiday we're putting christ back in christmas when you accept jesus christ if there's anybody else who you came today and you're not sure of where you're gonna spend eternity i beseech you i plead with you come out let's make the decision to follow jesus christ the best the most important decision that you will make in your life he wants to take the burdens off maybe maybe you walked away from christ maybe you walked away from the local church and your heart is weighing you down with guilt you feel like something was broken don't leave this place without bringing that on the altar right now without coming because something can break the devil will the devil will lose his grip over your life just come i'm waiting for you i know there's few more people that are in this room today the holy ghost is knocking on your heart like on the door and he's saying come on don't be like a jericho wall stick and stubborn you know break down the pride repent before me submit to my word and god will do a miracle in your life he will answer the prayers of your family to bring you closer to him i'm gonna wait for just a few more seconds thank you jesus but those of you watching me on live stream right now just let me know in the comments i want to get saved i want to give my life to jesus come on thank you lord thank you jesus thank you father if we can have some leaders come up when i'm administering it now to them okay jesus i want to say this out loud with me say lord jesus christ come on church help me out lord jesus christ i am a sinner please forgive me of all my sin and wash me with your blood i believe you are the son of god who died on a cross for all my sin i surrender my life to you i give up trying to change myself i believe you can give me a new heart right now i need that fill me with your spirit remove all my guilt remove all my chains set me free make me yours and devil you're losing me tonight i belong to jesus in jesus name videos thank you so much for being a part of this community if you're interested in learning more about hungry jen our internship our conferences deliverance and so many other things go to hungry gen.com for more information and as always remember better is not good enough the best is yet to come